County Increasing Recycling Pick-ups

(KCPW News) Beginning this September, residents in unincorporated Salt Lake County will be able to recycle twice as often. Pam Roberts, the county’s Sanitation Director, says it’s expanding the curbside recycling program to every week instead of twice a month.

“The tonnage of recycling has grown until where now we’re collecting bi-weekly service just over 20,000 tons a year,” she says. “But, with the weekly collections we are actually anticipating being able to capture within the first year, year and a half, an additional 10,000 tons of recyclables.”

The additional recycling pickup comes at a cost of two dollars a month for residents. But Roberts says even without the increase in service, residents would have seen a bump in their fees.

“The biggest portion, I would say over 50 percent of the two dollar increase is based on the fact that fuel prices have gone up, our maintenance fees have gone up and the disposal costs at the landfill have gone up,” says Roberts. “And, in all honesty, when we have customers saying ‘hey, I want additional services,’ our board was saying at least we can give them something.”

Roberts says a survey shows residents are increasingly interested in growing the recycling program. She says 69 percent of people surveyed recently say they are excited about expanding it, up from 41 percent in 2009. The fee will go up in January.

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